Pilgermann

He climbs a ladder to reach another man's wife and gives himself up to her beauty, but then Pilgermann descends into a mob of peasants inspired by the Pope to shed the blood of Jews. Alone on the cobblestones, mutilated and unmanned, he cries out to Israel, to the Lord his God, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He is answered instead by Jesus Christ: 'I'm the one you talk to from now on.' Every day is the Day of Reckoning and the judgement Christ brings is the start of straight action. Pilgermann hears a voice from within and becomes a pilgrim. Through time and war and Death itself, he makes his way along the road to Jerusalem, struggling to find God in the horror that surrounds him.

Review'Superb ... Pilgermann is history, metaphysics, a tangle of mysteries, profound and simple' Guardian 'A strange and beautiful work, whose mysteries are worth contemplation. Pilgermann is that rare thing - a novel that can be read with profit more than once' Evening Standard

About the AuthorRussell Hoban is the author of many extraordinary novels including The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz, Turtle Diary, Kleinzeit and Angelica's Grotto, also available from Bloomsbury. He has also written some classic books for children including The Mouse and His Child and the Frances books. He lives in London.